Spring Break 2023 was our first trip to Disneyland in California and it was a BLAST! But to make the most of it you need a strategy. Here are my tips for a fun-filled family vacation at the *original* happiest place on earth:
Buy your tickets for your days in the park as soon as you pick your travel dates. We chose to save some money and skip the Park Hopper pass. We booked the following:
Day 1 – Disneyland
Day 2 – California Adventure
Day 3 – Disneyland (*optional, you could make this a two-day adventure. Our Day 3 was mostly re-riding our favorite rides from Day 1 and shopping).
Genie+ is a Must
If you want to enjoy Disney, you need the Genie+ package – it’s the modern day Lightening Lane. This will ensure you get to ride all the best rides without waiting 2-3 hours for a 10 minute experience. If you are going to splurge somewhere, I promise you this is worth it.
You don’t have to get the Magic Key Band, but we’re glad we did.
The Magic Key Band is like a smart watch just for Disneyland. You will use it to scan in for your Genie+ ride reservations. You can do this just with your phone and skip buying the bands, but we found it WAY faster for each family member to hold their wrist up to scan in versus one person using their phone battery to swipe through multiple ride reservations all day. Also, the band lights up during the parades and the shows to align with the music. It’s a small detail, but the kids thought it was so cool.
Rope-Drop is worth the early wakeup.
You can begin entering the park at 7:30am to line up for the ‘rope drop’ at 8am when the park officially opens. If you commit to being there for rope drop, you will get to ride more in the first two hours of the day than all the afternoon. Get your coffee or your red bull and make it happen, you’ll thank yourself later.
Get a locker, even if you don’t think you’ll need it
The lockers are only $10 for the day. If you end up winning stuffed animals at arcades or buy merch or souvenir cups, you are not going to want to haul it all day. For $10 just book the locker.
Before you head to the park:
- Check the weather, bring raincoats if necessary. You don’t want to buy an $80 Mickey rain jacket if it starts down pouring.
- Pack snacks and refillable water bottles.
- Sunscreen and Hats for the whole family
- Portable phone charger and a charging cord
- Ziplok bags for your phone if you go on any water rides, also a small trash bag or plastic grocery bag for your backpack if you want to keep the whole thing dry
Our favorite rides were:
Disneyland:
- Space Mountain
- Splash Mountain
- Big Thunder Mountain Rollercoaster
- Star Tours
- Rise of the Resistance (AMAZING)
- Smuggler’s Run (AMAZING)
- We built Light Sabers & Droids (Droids were cooler and a MUCH better deal than light sabers)
- Peter Pan
- Sleeping Beauty’s Castle (just a walk through, not a ride, but a welcome break from the sun or rain if you need it)
California Adventure:
- Incredicoaster
- Radiator Springs
- Goofy’s Fly School
- Web Slinger’s
- The Little Mermaid
Food gets expensive, FAST.
We brought mini granola bars and collapsible water bottles. We snacked in-between meals and filled our bottles at water stations. If you don’t bring your own bottle, you’ll be paying $5 per Dasani all day. Pretzels, animal crackers, and grapes are great options to bring. Snacking helped get the twins’ energy up in the afternoon without us having to spend a fortune at Disney food carts.
If you want a sit down reservation, you can book (60) days in advance of your day at the park and the reservations go quickly. You can always cancel last minute. I recommend making at least one reservation a day so you have a guaranteed place to sit down for lunch or dinner. We really treasured these 45-60 minute breaks to sit down and relax. We let the kids play on our phones to have a technology break, the hubs and I had coffee or wine and people watched as adults for a bit. It was welcome respite for everyone.
When you don’t have a reservation, use the Mobile Order feature in the Disney app. It was SO MUCH FASTER than the people just waiting in line. Our Mobile Order meals for (4) were around $60, our sit down meals for (4) were around $120. So if you want to save some money, stick to mobile order and hope you can find a place to sit and eat.
The best meal we had at Disneyland was in Galaxy’s Edge at the Dock Bay 7 Cargo. The best food we had at California Adventure was the Wine Trattoria, seriously delicious and they had wine flights available.
If you want the famous Dole Whip it is available by Mobile Order ONLY. Whenever you start to crave it, go into the app and book your time slot to pick it up.
Evening Shows:
We did Fantasmic at Disneyland and World of Color at California Adventure. The whole family agreed we liked Fantasmic best.
We booked a dinner reservation with the Hungry Bear restaurant which came with (4) reserved area tickets for the Fantastmic show. Us adults had the salmon which was pretty delicious and the kids crushed the mac & cheese entrée. Our tickets for the show were in a reserved area but there are no seats – you will be sitting front and center, but on the ground. This was not clear to me when booking so heads up! We showed up about 15 minutes before the show started, sat in the back of the section and still had a great view. It’s a mix of light show and characters. The Pirates of the Caribbean ship sales through with a live sword fight – it was insane! At the end all of the Disney characters did a musical number on the Mark Twain Steam Boat. It was pure magic and everything I expected a Disney vacation to be. This show is a must.
For World of Color, we booked the Dessert Party tickets. This was EXPENSIVE but many folks recommended so I booked it at $80 per person. What you get is a massive dessert tray for each person and (2) alcoholic drinks per adult plus unlimited coffee, hot chocolate, and soft drinks. You get a table with chairs in a reserved center area for the World of Color show – think of it as the Bellagio fountain, but Disney with songs and movies projected on the water. It was honestly really cool to see we didn’t need to spend so much money on the seating and dessert. I would recommend watching from the bridge or claiming a floor seat about an hour before the show. If you sit in the front directly by the water, you will get wet!
Overall, the customer service at Disneyland was spectacular. Everyone was friendly and helpful. The park is immaculate, people are litterally sweeping up trash all day long. There are trash cans and hand sanitizing stations every 8-10’. The hospitality was top notch, customer service is a big deal to me and I was extremely impressed.
Where we stayed
For accommodations, we stayed at the JW Anaheim on Marriott points and walked to the park each day, which was a quick 10 minutes. Our twins are 7 and they did great with the walking to and from, even after a full day at the park and in the rain. The hotel was beautiful, the rooms spacious and comfortable and the service was 5 star. They have a grab and go café on the first floor where we could get a quick coffee and breakfast each morning before we headed to the park. I would absolutely stay here again.
The most important thing to remember about Disneyland is that you’re there to have fun and be kid. Enjoy yourself!
The Stacy Strategy 